The Skills Challenge is adding big men. Why not Hassan Whiteside?

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

MEET THE ALL-STAR TEAMS: No major surprises on the All-Star reserves announced by the NBA on Thursday. In the East we’ve got Jimmy Butler, John Wall, DeMar DeRozan, Chris Bosh, Paul Millsap, Andre Drummond and Isaiah Thomas (!). In the West we have Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, LaMarcus Aldridge, DeMarcus Cousins, Chris Paul, Anthony Davis and James Harden.

There are no obvious injury cases. Blake Griffin would have been basically an open spot for the commissioner had coaches voted him a reserve, but apparently he punched a team employee at just the wrong time. (The Clippers’ awesome record without Blake might have more to do with it.)

There were no crazy snubs, but those with reasons to be a little miffed include Damian Lillard, Dirk Nowitzki and Reggie Jackson.

Dame is becoming a professional snub in some ways.

MORE IMPORTANTLY: They are finally putting big men in the Taco Bell Skills Challenge! Draymond, Boogie and The Brow will at the very least be involved. Can we get Boban in there, please? Or Hassan Whiteside? Oh heavens, put Hassan Whiteside in the Skills Challenge.

SCORES GALORE ...

ATL 92, IND 111
DEN 117, WAS 113
NYK 93, TOR 103
MIL 83, MEM 103
SAC 105, NOP 114
CHI 114, LAL 91

GOOD QUESTION: The mics pick up Taj Gibson asking refs an explicit question after a non-call.

THE MERE THREAT OF KLAY: Nice work by Jesus Gomez on how Klay Thompson impacts defenses just by his mere presence.

TINY INTRIGUES: The L.A. Times’ Ben Bolch has some new info on the Blake Griffin punching incident. DeAndre Jordan and an additional Clippers staffer were also at the restaurant with Griffin and Matias Testi, but neither are telling the media what happened. The NBA is interviewing everyone, though.

TRADE TALK: Marc Stein with some trade rumors about Ryan Anderson, Rudy Gay and more.

SELF-AWARE: Draymond avoided crying over his All-Star honor because he knew the Internet would make him the new Crying Jordan meme.

MICHAEL BEASLEY IS A HERO: A Chinese player hit Jason Maxiell with a dirty forearm to the back of the head. Maxiell pursued his attacker the length of the court. The Chinese cheap shot artist’s teammate Michael Beasley stepped in to chill Maxiell out. Whew! Maxiell might have maimed that guy otherwise.

SURE: A 47-minute highlight reel set to Sting songs.

LIGHT IT UP: ABC will “light up” the three-point arc when players attempt triples beginning Saturday night. I agree with Tom Ley here. This is wholly unnecessary.

VANDY DANDY: Kevin O’Connor on the pro prospects of Vanderbilt’s Wade Baldwin IV. Man, that’s a Vanderbilt name.

WORK EVERYWHERE: Very interesting read by Scott Leedy on the ethics of tracking basketball players (and by extension anyone) outside of the strict employment setting. Via REDEF.

NUANCE! A thorough consideration of the question of whether LeBron is coach killer is addressed by Brian Windhorst.

DANG: Bobby Portis is gonna break someone’s hand with a high-five.

GOOD JOB: The superyacht of Blazers franchise owner Paul Allen is allegedly responsible for damaging protected coral reef at the Cayman Islands.

[CRYING JORDAN FACE ON THE MAVERICKS LOGO]: The Mavs’ official Twitter tried to compare Chandler Parsons to Steph Curry during Mavs-Warriors the other night and ... nope. Nope nope nope. The replies are great, though.

NEAT: The WNBA is adding two teams to the playoffs, give the top two seeds a first-round bye, taking the top teams regardless of conference and reseeding after each round. So, like the NFL but without conference dividing lines.

NICE: Pistons franchise owner Tome Gores is leading an effort to raise $10 million for Flint to help solve its poison water issue.

Happy Friday. Your weekly ABC Saturday night game features the Spurs and Cavs. The Sunday afternoon games on ABC begin, too: Clippers-Bulls is the joint this week. See you next time.